Maya Cosmetics New Fall Colors & Top Coat

* I received the following products in exchange for my honest review by Maya Cosmetics.

I have some brand new fall nail polishes to share with you from Maya Cosmetics today. These polishes release today! Also, Maya Cosmetics is currently running a 25% OFF your entire purchase between now and Monday, September 30th. The sale will apply to the new colors and the new top coat.

Let's get right into it!

Glitter is the New Black

Glitter is the New Black is a black base with black, silver, silver holo, purple holo, pink, and orange micro glitters.

En Fuego

En Fuego is a muted orange jelly with gold, orange, and bronze glitters and a subtle scattered holo.

Stargazing

Stargazing deep blue base with silver micro glitter. it’s a night sky polish.

Maya Cosmetics Top Coat

Colors: Awesome mix of colors here. I love all of these! Glitter is the New Black is a excellent mix of black and holo glitter. En Fuego is the perfect color for autumn with a nice touch of sparkle. Stargazer is to die for gorgeous. This one reminds me so much of the coveted and unattainable Essie Starry Starry Night. They're not exact dupes according to Pointless Cafe, but I am completely satisfied!

Formula: I liked the formula on all of these. Glitter is the New Black and En Fuego I used 2 coats for the swatches. Stargazer I used 3. The formula on the nail colors were easy to apply and use. The top coat was a breeze to use as well, and dried around the same rate as other popular quick dry top coats. I've been wearing the top coat on my current mani for the past 3 days, and I do not have any chips or shrinkage at all.

Price: $9.50 per bottle on the nail colors and $4.00 for the top coat, but remember the 25% OFF fall special between now and the 30th. You will need to use the code FALLSPECIAL. You can purchase on the Maya Cosmetics website.

Overall: Excellent colors. Great formula. All around, I'm impressed with Maya Cosmetics again! There are actually more colors in this collection so be sure to check out the website.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Be sure to follow Maya Cosmetics on Facebook!

* I received the above products to review by Maya Cosmetics. 

Happy Friday!

KBShimmer Spring 2013 Collection Swatches

I have 3 polishes from KBShimmer's Spring 2013 collection (link is to press release) to share with you today! If you remember, KBShimmer was voted  #1 by many of you as the best handmade indie polish brand of 2012 on my blog. KBShimmer was also my pick for this category too. I was excited to be able to review some of these polishes since I know how great they are! These colors are perfect for spring, but all have a punchy, bold, and fun twist!

L-R: Pastel Me More, Iris My Case, Get Clover It, and Clearly on Top Quick Dry Top Coat

Pastel Me More over Cult Nails Nevermore

Pastel Me More over LEX Cayman Cabana

Pastel Me More is mixture of pastel colored glitter in varying sizes in a clear base.

If you love rainbow glitters, you will definitely love this one. I love that this is pastel glitter! This glitter is perfect for spring and will be a great topper to your spring brights and pastel polishes. I used one thick coat on these polishes above. Pastel Me More applied well and evenly.

Iris My Case

Iris My Case is violet pastel "crelly" (cream jelly) base with purple, pink, silver, and blue glitters.

This is a beautiful polish. I'm a sucker for lavender in spring and this a gorgeous shade. The highlight of this polish is definitely that bright blue glitter! I love how it pops against the soft purple. I used 3 coats in this swatch, and this applied evenly and smoothly. I do not have very much luck with crellies as far as application, but this applied very easily.

Get Clover It over Cult Nails Nevermore

Get Clover It (3 coats on its own)

Get Clover It is a emerald green jelly with green, gold, turquoise circle glitters, and a micro shimmer.

I've never seen anything like Get Clover It before. The green jelly base with this flashy and shimmery circle glitters make me think of a enchanted forest or lake. I know that sounds weird, but this polish is just so cool it reminds me of something magical. I love the circle glitter! This polish is awesome! I applied 2 coats over Cult Nails Nevermore in the top photo and used 3 coats on its own in the bottom photo. This one applied well too. The circle glitters you may need to work with a bit to get on your nail, but it wasn't anything unmanageable or tricky.

Clearly On Top Quick Dry Top Coat

Clearly On Top is a quick dry and 2 free top coat. I applied it on top of all the swatches above. This dried quickly, shiny, and smoothly on top of these great glitters!

I'm very impressed with these polishes by KBShimmer. I love the variety of finishes, glitters, and colors in this collection. There is definitely something for everyone, and in my case I want it all! The application on these was consistently good too. I think you all will love this collection!

Which is your favorite of this bunch? 

The KBShimmer Spring 2013 line will be available for purchase on their website on Friday, February 15th. You will also be able to purchase these on Harlow & Co.

You can currently purchase the Clearly On Top quick dry top coat for $5.00 (15ml) or $3.00 (7ml) on their website.

Be sure follow KBShimmer on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

*These polishes were sent to me for my honest review by KBShimmer. 

Happy Wednesday!

butter LONDON Nail Foundation Base Coat & Hardwear Top Coat Review

This is the review I've dreaded writing. A few months ago I gave a poor review of butter LONDON Artful Dodger. I had chipping problems within a day with this polish. After I posted that review, someone from butter LONDON was kind enough to write me and offered to send me their Nail Foundation base coat and Hardwear top coat to try with Artful Dodger. They felt that with their brand specific top coat and base coat I would have better luck. The problem is I did not.

I have held on to this base coat and top coat for almost 3 months, and I've tried it 2 times with Artful Dodger. I've tried it wither various other nail polishes, and have not had favorable results. I've hesitated posting this, in hopes maybe with another test run I can get the results I want. This did not happen. I feel terrible about it too, since these products are not cheap and they sent them for me to review. I have to be honest with you all though. That is what is most important. 

Here are the two treatments.

I will say that I do like the base coat in the sense that is not clear. It mattifies the nail and gives your nail a smooth even appearance. I noticed myself using less coats of polish when I used this base coat. The issue I have is I did not notice this either using it on its own with a different top coat or using it with the butter LONDON top coat to have any longer wear time usual. I tried this with the butter LONDON polish and with  other polish brands and experienced similar chipping issues. 

The top coat, is a quick dry, but is definitely less quick drying than other top coats I've used. I did not find it alone used with a different base coat or used with the butter LONDON base coat to have any longer wear time either. The same be said for when it was used with other polishes brands other than butter LONDON. 

Here is a picture of me wearing Artful Dodger using the butter LONDON top coat and base coat immediately after a doing my nails

This is two days later

Tip wear and a huge chunk out of my pinky.

On my other hand I used my typical top coat Poshe and base coat of Gelous. This is right after doing my nails.

This is 2 days later

Similar results as with the butter LONDON top coat and base coat.  Chips and tip wear.

What can I say? This was my second test run, and probably my 10th time using them individually or together on different brands of polish. This did not work for me. I'd expect for a brand polish that is $14 that I can get more than 2 days of wear on it. I'd especially assume that the base coat and top coat being $18 each I'd get superior wear than I would with any other top coat and base coat. 

It can very well be that butter LONDON and me just do not mix well. It wasn't meant to be! I love their color selection. I think they are a creative and sophisticated brand, but this chipping issue is frustrating. I do appreciate them offering to let me try these products. If you have had chipping issues with butter LONDON I do not think their base coat or top coat will solve your problems. Save your money! I'm sorry this did not work out for me because I had high hopes. I'm sorry for the lengthy review too. 

*These products were sent to me for review by butter LONDON

Happy Monday!

Revlon Just Add Sparkle Glitters

In the midst of the psychotic CVS lady from the other day, I did manage to have a successful nail polish trip.  They had Revlon products BOGO 50% off and I spotted the new Revlon glitters so I decided to get them all. I'm glad I spotted them because they were hidden in the deep dark corner on the bottom shelf. I hope no one was hiding them :P.

This collection came with 4 creme colors Galaxy (black creme), Ruby (red creme), Silver (grey creme), and Rock (purple creme). All of these creme shades came with sparkly glitter top coats as their counterparts. Each of these top coats corresponded to the creme color. I only purchased the glitters, since the cremes were pretty standard colors I already had in my collection.

L-R: Galaxy, Slipper, Belle, & Star

Galaxy

This is Galaxy layered of Wet n' Wild Black Creme. Galaxy is prominently a mix of black glitter mixed in with blue, gold, and silver glitter and, silver holographic hexagonal glitters all  suspended in a clear base. I really love the variation of the colors with the glitter in this one.

Belle

This is Belle layered over Milani Day Dreaming. Belle is prominently a silver glitter mixed in with gold, blue, and silver holographic hexagonal glitters suspended in a clear base. This is not a look I would ever think to go for but I quite like it!

Slipper 

 This is Slipper layered over Revlon Raven Red. Slipper is prominently red glitter with silver glitter and silver holographic hexagonal glitter suspended in a clear base. I love this one, then again I'm sucker for red glitter anything. I'm interested in layering this over a blue. I bet it would be great for 4th of July even though that's so far away! :P

Star

This is Star layered over OPI Funky Dunkey. Star is a purple and silver glitter mixed in with silver holographic hexagonal glitter suspended in a clear base.

Here are all the glitters layered over black.

Index to Pinky- Galaxy, Star, Slipper, & Belle.

Overall, I really enjoyed these glitters. I have read a lot of comments from people on whether they should get these or not. I don't think these are must haves, but for me I'm glad I bought them. I first was unsure because they didn't seem to have much variation between the glitters, but at a closer glance these all have their own unique blend of different color glitters. Also, you don't have to go by Revlon's guidelines obviously you can layer these over any color and you'll get different results.

If you're into glitters and layering a lot then I think these would be right for you. I personally like having all of them. I like the addition of the hexagonal glitter that isn't very common in drugstore polishes. I think if you're on the fence, getting one of these will probably do the job. If I had to pick a favorite I'd go with either Galaxy or Belle because they have the most dimension and would probably be the most universal as far as you could layer it over anything. Galaxy and Rock are similar but Galaxy is better. I personally love Slipper because I love red glitters, but if you're not into red much this one wouldn't be necessary. Again, I don't these are must haves, but they're nice additions. I think it just comes down to your personal tastes and what you like to do with your polish.

I hope this review gives some insight and helps some of you out rather than left you dumbfounded! Now if we can only get Revlon to bring back Street Wear polishes!

Happy Monday!

China Glaze Golden Enchantment +Tag

*Sorry for reposting this blog so many times. I was having issues with a new commenting system that was messing up my blog, so I had to respost it in order to get comments again!*

You can never have enough glittery/shimmery top coats. I think my Helmer drawer for my special top coats is almost full! Golden Enchantment was a color I had wanted, but I wasn't necessarily in need of it. Thankfully, Sally's had these on sale which pushed me to get it. I'm thankful I did because it's a pretty one!

Golden Enchantment

This is Golden Enchantment layed over NYC Black Lace. It's a golden holographic microglitter in a clear base. It really adds dimension to a polish. I love how over black it looks like space splattered with stars. As a nerd who likes astronomy this is plus! This would look great layered over anything. There are no limitations!

I was also tagged by the lovely Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes for this neat little survey!

1. Have you ever felt so disappointed in a nail polish you wanted to throw it out the window? And why?
Yes. I even blogged about it Misa Fleeting Hibiscus. I saw one swatch of it online and it looks like a really pretty shimmer. It ended up being a really pastel pearl pink stomach medicine ugly color. It looked awful on my skintone. Blech.

2. What are your top three favorite nail polishes?
Geez, this is hard. Probably...Zoya Elke, China Glaze Strawberry Fields, & Orly La Playa....and dozens of others. 

3. What is your favorite online store?
It's hard to say it depends on who has certain collections first. It's a tie between Head2Toe Beauty, Victoria Nail Supply, & Transdesign

4. Is there anything you'd like to share with us that you haven't shared before?
Sorry, this isn't interesting, but I don't really think I have anything new to share. The only stuff I don't share on the blog really are religious views, political views, and etc for obvious reasons. I'm a pretty liberal person as far as human rights and I'm very outspoken about it in real life. I think discrimination and hatred because of someones religion,race, sexual preference, & etc is incredibly destructive and wrong. I'll leave it at that, though I can imagine a majority of you will agree with me.


5. What is your favorite song of the moment?
I don't have a favorite song of the moment. I'm so not caught up with mainstream music. Some of my favorite songs though do come from Elton John, Billy Joel, Chicago, and America. Yeah, I like music from the 70's...lol

I tag anyone who would like to do this survey!

Happy Friday!


P.S: If you commented on this post earlier and your comment is no longer viewable, it's because I was testing that new comment system and it removed the previous comments. I didn't remove them on purpose. I decided not to use this comment system, so it's back to normal now.

The Worst Nail Products I Ever Purchased

I'm back! My cable/internet company really screwed up. My BF and I woke up to no internet or TV yesterday and didn't get it repaired until today. Our neighbors have been getting notices on their door from the cable company regarding payment of their account and it turned out instead of shutting off their cable they shut off ours! Annoying! Well all is fixed now and I have my sanity back. TV and internet gone at the same time is bad.

Back on topic! I like to keep my posts positive, but while going through swatching nail wheels I came across 2 products I completely regret buying. The culprits are....



Sally Hansen "No Chip" (hahaha) Acrylic Top Coat & Quick Dry Top Coat.

We'll start with Sally. I'd say for the most part I like Sally products. In my opinion Sally Hansen can be hit or miss especially when it comes to products for your nails, not polish. In the dark ages long ago before I knew the joys of Seche Vite I ran out of top coat (I was using Sally Hansen Mega shine, which is alright). I was in a rush and I grabbed this Sally Hansen No Chip. I got home and went on MUA to look at reviews and they were medicore, but for the most part pretty bad. Since, I already had it, I figured I'd give it a shot myself. The biggest joke about this product is its name "No Chip". This is chip city. I put this over my nail polish and within few hours I was chipping not just small chips but big chips. It was a disaster. I'm a big fan or Seche, but I'm not going to rub it in peoples faces. There are plenty of good top coats out there, but I would avoid this one. In fact I fixed the bottle for them.


On to Quick Dry Top Coat. I got this at Dollar Tree a few months ago for $1. I know it's a $1 you can't expect much and I didn't, but it's a dollar I could of spent on something else. This is not quick dry and this leaves your nails sticky. I waited an hour and my nails were still sticky. I ended up taking it all off and starting over. Blech, it's shame you can sometimes find great stuff for $1 this isn't one of them. I could of used that dollar on pretty nail polish! :(

That all being said, these are the only 2 products I really am disappointed by. There are of course nail polish colors that didn't turn out how I expected. However, since everyone has their own ideas on colors and different skin tones one color could look great on someone else and horrible on me, so I figured I'd leave those out. I might make post on those later though. :D

What are some nail products you regret buying?

Have a great day!